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bTONEWALL JACKSON 



AN ADDRESS BY 



HUNTER MeGUIRE, M. D., 

Medical Director Jackson's Corps, 
AT THE DEDICATION OF JACKSON MEMORIAL 
HALL, VIRGINIA MILITARY INSTITUTE, AND 
REPEATED BEFORE R. E. LEE CAMP, No. 1, C. V., 
RICHMOND, VA., JULY 9, 1897 



Published by 

R. E. Lee Camp, No. 1, c. V. 

1897. 



J7^AI/f 



Commander and Comrades of Lee Gamp, 

Ladies and Gentlemen : 

I am grateful for the invitation that brings me here to- 
night, although I am well aware that the compliment is not to 
me. I know, and I am glad to know, that your interest is in 
the subject, and the man of whom I shall speak, as well it 
may be ; for General Jackson's history is ycur history, and a 
share of his glory belongs to you. 

The paper, as some of you understand, was written that it 
might be read in Lexington, and the language — here and there — 
belongs to the occasion of its delivery. It will not be a diffi- 
cult effort for you, I hope, to imagine yourselves standing on 
the holy ground where Lee and Jackson lie. 

This, then, is the address as delivered there. 



7^' 



\ 



Mr. President, General, Cadets of the Virginia Military Institute, 
Ladies and Gentlemen : 

I understand, and I beg this audience to understand, that 
I am here to-day, not because I have any place among the ora- 
tors, or am able to do anything except " to speak right on " and 
" tell you that which you yourselves do know," but because the 
noblest heritage I shall hand down to my children is the fact, that 
Stonewall Jackson condescended to hold and to treat me as his 
friend. I know, and you know, that as long as valor and virtue 
are honored among men, as long as greatness of mind and gran- 
deur of soul excite our admiration, as long as Virginia parents 
desire noble examples to set before their sons, and as long as there 
dwells in the souls of Virginia boys that fire of native nobleness 
which can be kindled by tales of heroic endeavor, so long will 
Virginia men and women be ready to hear of the words and the 
deeds of Virginia's heroic sons, and, therefore, ready and glad to 
hear how valorous and how virtuous, how great and how grand 
in every thought and action was the Virginian of whom I speak 
to-day — to know in what awesome Titanic mould was cast that 
quiet Professor who once did his duty here ; that silent stranger 
whom no man knew until " the fire of God fell upon him in the 
battle-field," as it did upon Arthur — the fire by which Sir Launce- 
lot knew him for his king — the fire that like the " live coal from 
oif the altar touched the lips " of Jackson and brought from them 
that kingly voice which the eagle of victory knew and obeyed. 
For a king was Stonewall Jackson, if ever royalty, anointed as by 
fire, appeared among men. 

When Egypt, or Persia, or Greece, or Rome was the world; 
when the fame of a king reached the borders of his own dominion 
but scarcely crossed them ; when a great conqueror was known as 
far as his banners could fly ; friends (or enemies) could assign a 
warrior's rank amongst mankind and his place in history. These 
latter ages have agreed that a Rameses, a Cyrus, an Alexander or 
a Constantine shall be styled " The Great," accepting therein the 
estimate put upon them by the contracted times in which they 



Stonewall Jackson. 



lived, supported perchance by the story of their deeds as labo- 
riously chiseled on some long-buried slab, recorded on some hard- 
ly-recovered sheets of ancient parchment, or written on some 
dozen pages of a literature, the language of which serves the pur- 
poses of the ghosts along the Styx, as they tell each other of glo- 
ries long departed. 

To-day the world is wide, and before the world's tribunal each 
candidate for historic honors must appear. The world's estimate, 
and that alone, posterity will accept, and even that it will here- 
after most carefully revise. 

The young Emperor of Germany, seeking to decree his grand- 
father's place in history, would have him styled " William the 
Great." Here and there, in one nation and another. Press and 
people combine to deify some popular hero and offer him for the 
plaudits or the worship of the age. It is a vain endeavor. The 
universal judgment cannot be forestalled. No force or artifice can 
make mankind accept as final the false estimate instead of the true. 
Money, powerful, dangerous and threatening as it now is in this 
Republic, cannot for long buy a verdict. The unbiased world 
alone is capable of stamping upon the forehead of man that mark 
which neither the injustice of adverse interest, nor envy's gnaw- 
ing tooth, nor the ceaseless flow of the river of time are able to 
efface. 

Therefore, it was with swelling heart and deep thankfulness 
that I recently heard some of the first soldiers and military stu- 
dents of England declare, that within the past two hundred years 
the English-speaking race has produced but five soldiers of the 
first rank — Marlborough, Washington, Wellington, Robert Lee 
and Stonewall Jackson. I heard them declare that Jackson's 
campaign in the Shenandoah Valley, in which you, and you, and 
you, and I myself in my subordinate place, followed this immor- 
tal, was the finest specimen of strategy and tactics of which the 
world has any record ; that in this series of marches and battles 
there was never a blunder committed by Jackson ; that this cam- 
paign in the Valley was superior to either of those made by Na- 
poleon in Italy. One British officer, who teaches strategy in a 
great European college, told me that he used this campaign as a 
model of strategy and tactics and dwelt upon it for several 
months in his lectures ; that it was taught for months of each 
session in the schools of Germany ; and that Von Moltke, the 



Stonewall Jackson. 



great strategist, declared it was without a rival in the world's 
history. This same British officer told me that he had ridden on 
horseback over the battle-fields of the Valley and carefully stud- 
ied the strategy and tactics there displayed by Jackson. He had 
followed him to Kichmond, where he joined with Lee m the cam- 
paign against McClellan in 1862 ; that he had followed his detour 
around Pope — his management of his troops at Manassas ; that he 
had studied his environment of Harper's Ferry and its capture, 
his part of the fight at Sharpsburg, and his flank movement 
around Hooker, and that he had never blundered. " Indeed," 
he added, "Jackson seemed to me (him) inspired." Another 
British soldier told me that for its numbers the Army of North- 
ern Virginia had more force and power than any other army that 
ever existed. 

High as is my estimate of the deeds of the Second Corps of the 
Army of Northern Virginia, I heard these opinions with a new 
elation, for I knew they presented the verdict of impartial his- 
tory ; the verdict that posterity will stamp with its approval ; a 
verdict -in itself such a tribute to valor and virtue, devotion and 
truth — as shall serve to inspire, exalt and ennoble our children 
and our children's children to the remotest generations. 

You will not be surprised to hear of my telling them that of 
these five, thus overtopping all the rest, three were born in the 
State of Virginia ; nor wonder that I reverently remember that 
two of them lie side by side here in Lexington, while one is sleep- 
ing by the great river, there to sleep till time shall be no more — 
the three consecrating in death the soil of Virginia, as in life they 
stamped their mother State as the native home of men who, living 
as they lived, shall be fit to go on quest for the Holy Grail. 

And now I hope I may be able to tell you what evidences of 
this accredited greatness— what warrant for the justness of this 
verdict — I, and others with me, saw in the quiet of the camp and 
in the rush of the battle ; and how I saw with my eyes, and stand 
here to declare, that his greatness vanished not nor faded, but the 
brighter shone, when the shadows of evening were falling and the 
darkness of death gathered round. 

In seeking to define Jackson's place in history I accept Lord 
Wolseley's definition of a great commander. He declares in effect 
that the marks of this rare character are : First of all, the 
power — the instinct, the inspiration — to define the condition and 



6 Stonewall Jackson. 

the purposes of your enemy. Secondly, the genius that in strategy 
instantly devises the combinations most likely to defeat those pur- 
poses. Thirdly, the physical and moral courage — the absolute 
self-reliance — that takes the risk of decision, and the skill that 
promptly and properly delivers the blow that shatters the hostile 
plans, so managing one's own forces (even when small) as to have 
the greater number at the point of attack. Fourthly, the cool 
judgment that is unshaken by the clash and clamor of emergen- 
cies. And last, but not least, the prevision — the caution — that 
cares for the lives and well-being of the private soldiers, and the 
personal magnetism that rouses the enthusiasm and affection that 
make the commander's presence on the battle-field the incentive 
to all that human beings can dare, and the unquestioned hope and 
sure promise of victory. 

Many incidents of Jackson's career prove that he possessed the 
instinctive power to know the plight, and to foretell the purposes 
of the Federal army and its commanders. To describe the first 
that I recall : "While dressing his wounded hand at the first 
Manassas, at the field-hospital of the brigade at Young's Branch, 
near the Lewis House, I saw President Davis ride up from Manas- 
sas. He had been told by stragglers that our army had been 
defeated. He stopped his horse in the middle of the little stream, 
stood up in his stirrups (the palest, sternest face I ever saw) and 
cried to the great crowd of soldiers " I am President Davis— fol- 
low me back to the field." General Jackson did not hear dis- 
tinctly. I told him who it was and what he said. He stood up, 
took ofi" his cap and cried, " We have whipped them — they ran 
like sheep. Give me 10,000 men and I will take Washington City 
to-morrow." Who doubts now that he could have done so? 

When, in May, 1862, he whipped Banks at Winchester, and 
had, what seemed then and even now, that audacity to follow him 
to Harper's Ferry, he not only knew the number and condition of 
Banks' army, but in his mind he clearly saw the locality and 
strength of the armies of Fremont and McDowell, gradually con- 
verging from the east and west towards Strasburg to cut off his 
retreat. He knew the leaders of these hostile forces, their skill 
and moral courage, and calculated on it, and this so nicely that he 
was able to pass between them without a moment to spare. In- 
deed, he held these hosts apart with his skirmishers while his 
main army passed through, each commander of th^ Federal army 



Stonewall Jackson. 



in doubt and dread whether the mighty and mysterious Jackson 
intended one of his overwhelming blows for him ; both, doubtless, 
hoping the other one would catch it. Certainly they acted in a 
way to indicate this. 

With the help of Ashby and Stuart he always knew the loca- 
tion and the strength of his enemy. He knew the fighting quality 
of the enemy's forces, too. " Let the Federals get very close," he 
said to Ewell at Cross Keys, " before your infantry fires ; they 
won't stand long." I asked him at Cedar Run if he expected a 
battle that day. He smiled and said, " Banks is in our front and 
he is generally willing to fight," "and," he added very slowly and 
as if to himself, " and he generally gets whipped." 

At Malvern Hill, when a portion of our army was beaten and 
to some extent demoralized, Hill and Ewell and Early came to 
tell him that they could make no resistance if McClellan attacked 
them in the morning. It was difficult to wake General Jackson, 
as he was exhausted and very sound asleep. I tried it myself, 
and after many eflForts partly succeeded. When he was made to 
understand what was wanted, he said " McClellan and his army 
will be gone by daylight," and went to sleep again. The generals 
thought him mad, but the prediction was true. 

At Sharpsburg, when, on the 17th, our army had repulsed three 
great assaults in succession and was reduced to a thin line, hap- 
pening to have urgent business that took me to the front, I 
expressed to General Jackson my apprehension lest the surging 
mass of the enemy might get through. He replied, " I think 
they have done their worst and there is now no danger of the line 
being broken." McClellan's inaction during the long 18th, when 
General Lee stood firm and offered him battle, proves that Jackson 
knew his enemy's condition. 

At Fredericksburg, after Burnside's repulse, he asked me how 
many bandages I had. I told him, and asked why ne wanted to 
know. He said that he wanted to have a piece of white cloth to 
tie on each man's arm that his soldiers might recognize each other 
in a night attack, and he asked to be allowed to make such an 
attack and drive the foe into the swollen river or capture him. 
Subsequent events demonstrated that he would have accomplished 
his purpose. 

It was said that at a council of war, called by General Lee after 
the Fredericksburg battle, Jackson went to sleep during the dis- 



8 Stonewall Jackson. 

cussion, and when suddenly aroused and asked for his advice he 
simply replied " Drive them into the river." 

That he possessed the genius to devise and the skill and courage 
to deliver the blow needed to defeat his foes, is it not amply 
proved by the general fact that his army in the Valley campaign 
was never over 17,000, and generally less, and that for a time he 
was keeping at bay 100,000 Federal soldiers — 60,000 in or near 
the great Valley, and 40,000 at Fredericksburg — soundly thrash- 
ing in the field, from time to time, large portions of this great 
army ? Not to mention details, Jackson and his small force influ- 
enced the campaign to the extent of keeping 100,000 Federal 
troops away from Eichmond, and compelling the Federal Govern- 
ment to employ a larger force than the whole of the Confederate 
army, in order, as Lincoln said, " to protect the National Capi- 
tal." In the operations necessary to accomplish this result, he 
encountered one (his first and only) defeat — that at Kernstown, 
which he and others, who trusted his judgment, believed was due 
to an untimely order to fall back, given by one of his bravest and 
truest of brigade commanders. But that defeat was so full of 
brilliant results to our cause that the Confederate Congress 
thanked him for the battle. The gallant and brilliant officer who 
gave this order was put under arrest (whether wisely or not is not 
for present discussion), but the effect was to prevent any other 
man or officer from ordering a retreat on any subsequent field of 
battle where Jackson was, whether out of ammunition or not. 
Thence he went immediately to McDowell, "Winchester, Cross 
Keys and Port Republic, winning battle after battle, having 
always the smaller army, but the larger number actually fighting 
(except at Cross Keys), illustrating the truth of what a Federal 
officer tells us a Yankee soldier said after the stern struggle at 
Groveton : '^ These rebels always put their small numbers in 
strong positions and then manage to be the stronger at the point 
where the rub comes." And so, notwithstanding the tremendous 
odds against him in the whole theatre, he met another test of a 
great commander, in concentrating against his opponent the larger 
force. 

I cannot give you any instances or illustrations of the mental 
action by which he reached his conclusions or devised the combina- 
tions which defeated his enemy ; for Jackson took no counsel save 
with his " familiar," the Genius of War, and hjs God. He did 



Stonewall Jackson. q 



hold one and only on^ councl of war. In March, 1862 at Win- 
cheater, Jackson had in his small army less than 6,000 men Gen- 
eral Banljs, ^ho was advancing upon Winchester from Harper's 
Ferry and Cbarlostown, had 80,000 sold.ers. General Jack o" 
repeated y offered General Banks battle, but the latter dec fned 
and on the n,ght of the Ilth of March went into camp four mi i 
from W,„cbester. General Jackson sent for his oiScers and no 
posed make a n.ght attack, but the plan was not approved by tbe 
oouncl. He sent for the ofBcers a second time, some hours later 
and aga,n urged them to agree to make the night assault but hey 

ti drerfw °\"^ ""'"f'- '»■ ■'"« '" t''^ afternoon wl 
w hdrew from Winchester and marched to Newtown. I „de 
w.th the General as we left the place, and as we reached a hlh 
po nt overlooking the town, we both turned to look at Winchester 
ju,,t evacuated and now left to the mercy of the Federal sold r' 
I thmk that a man may sometimes yield to overwhelming emo-' 

1 t'hM . rr. """'^ '"""■''™'' ^y "''' fact that I was reavTn^ 
a that I held dear on earth, but my emotion was arrested by "f 
look at Jackson. His face was fairly blazing with the fire tha 
was burnrng ,n h.m, and I felt awed before him. Presentlv he 
cned out with a manner almost savage " That i, the last c! M 
o war I will ever hold l" And it waLhis first Id a Z: 

a ted w T ""."" """' "'™''^'-« °f •■- °™ t-rt -d 
acted. Instantaneous decision, absolute self-reliance, ever; ac 
t.on, every word displayed. His voice displaved it in bat iT It 
was not the peal of the trumpet, but the .sharp crack of h r fle- 
sudden, imperative, resolute 

beeVo'rTticTsed "^T^ Z 1 '1'." " "'"' ^^^^^°^'^ ^^^-t i^- 
Deen criticised. The delay at Gaines' Mill has been the subiect of 
much comment. The trnfh i'q +Tic.f p it ,. s^oject ot 

+n T.1 I,- ^^^ General Lee directed Jackson 

to place his corps on our extreme left, where he would J i 

by the command of D H Fill TTo T I I ^ J^'""^'^ 

of battle with TTn 7' 1 ^ ^^"''^ ^^^ *° ^^^^ ''^ line 

.e Pat :,- Ihlr'str h-?-e It^d tX' 

^:. Whe^te^St^tLrMl"'^ r^^T ^ 

■ntorm Hill of the orders of the Commander-in-Chief and it 11 
with some difficulty that he withdrew him from the fight ' u Z 



10 Stonewall Jackson. 

only when Jackson found that McClellan was not being driven 
from his works that he put into the battle every man he had. 

General Jackson waited at White Oak Swamp during the battle 
of Frazier's Farm because he was directed to stay on this road 
until further orders. As a soldier he could do nothing else. He 
gave the same unquestioned obedience to the officer above him 
that he demanded of those under his control. Moreover, the 
stream was impassable for infantry under fire, and impassable 
for artillery without a bridge. Jackson and his Staff, with Col- 
onel Munford's cavalry, tested it, riding across through quagmires 
that took us up to the girths of our horses ; but by a fierce artil- 
lery attack he kept Franklin's and part of Sumner's corps from 
joining with McCall to resist the attack at Frazier's Farm. This 
attack General Jackson began with twenty-eight pieces of artil- 
lery at 12 o'clock that day. The battle at Frazier's Farm began 
at 5 o'clock the same afternoon. White Oak Swamp road is but 
five miles distant. If General Lee had wanted Jackson he could 
have sent for him, but General Lee did not want him. He 
expected to defeat McCall, and isolate Franklin and Sumner, and 
then capture them with Jackson's cooperation from the position he 
knew he occupied. 

Cedar Run battle has been criticised as a barren victory, but 
while it did not accomplish all that Jackson intended, it was far 
from barren in its results. Pope, who had more than double the 
force of Jackson, was preparing to attack us at Gordonsville and 
destroy the railroad. We remained two weeks at Gordonsville, 
waiting for Pope to make a false move, when, finding that Pope's 
divisions were widely separated — the left wing being at Freder- 
icksburg and the right under Siegel at Sperryville, fifty-five miles 
from the left wing, the main army on the Rappahannock, with 
Banks thrown out to Culpeper Courthouse — Jackson determined 
to strike them in detail. I know this was his purpose and his 
after-report proves it. He intended first to attack his old antago- 
nist. Banks, at Culpeper, and then to descend like a thunderbolt 
on McDowell at Fredericksburg. On our route we lost an entire 
day because one of the division commanders marched two miles 
instead of twenty-five. This gave Pope time to concentrate his 
forces. That night, as we pursued the beaten army of General 
Banks, we captured some of McDowell's men, proving that the 

I 



Stonewall Jackson. 11 

Federals had had time to concentrate, and this prevented him 
from carrying out his original plan of striking in detail. As it 
was, Banks' army was so crippled as to be " of litle use," as Gen- 
eral Pope reports, "during the rest of that campaign." The pres- 
tige of our troops and commanders was raised, and the Federal 
confidence in Pope diminished. But, more than this, and more 
important, Pope's plans were disconcerted and ten days were 
gained, by which time General Lee and the rest of our army 
joined us. 

The imperturbable coolness of a great commander was preemi- 
nently his. He was always calm and self-controlled. He never 
lost his balance for one moment. At the first Manassas, when we 
reached the field and found our men under Bee and Bartow fall- 
ing back — when the confusion was greatest, and Bee in despair 
cried out " They are driving us back " — there was not the slight- 
est emotion apparent about him. His thin lips were compressed 
and his eyes ablaze when he curtly said, " Then, sir, we will give 
them the bayonet." At Port Republic, where he was so nearly 
captured, as he escaped he instantly ordered the Thirty-seventh 
Virginia regiment, which was fortunately near at hand and in 
line, to charge through the bridge and capture the Federal piece 
of artillery placed at its mouth. 

In the very severe engagement at Chantilly, fought during a 
heavy thunder-storm, when the voice of the artillery of heaven 
could scarcely be told from that of the army, an aide came up 
with a message from A. P. Hill that his ammunition was wet and 
that he asked leave to retire. " Give my compliments to General 
Hill, and tell him that the Yankee ammunition is as wet as his ; to 
stay where he is." There was always danger and blood when he 
began his terse sentences with " Give my compliments." 

One of the most striking illustrations of his courage and abso- 
lute self-reliance was shown at the battle of Groveton. He had 
been detached from General Lee's army, and in a march of two 
days captured Manassas Junction, directly in Pope's rear, and 
destroyed the immense stores accumulated at that point. After 
this he marched his command to a field which gave him a good 
defensive position and the readiest means of junction with Long- 
street. At that point, if he was compelled to retreat, he had the 
Aldie Gap behind him, through which he could pass and rejoin 
General Lee. Pope, disappointed at not finding Jackson at 



12 Stonewall Jackson. 

Manassas, and confused by the different movements that different 
portions of Jackson's corps had made, was utterly disconcerted 
and directed his army to move towards Centreville, where they 
could easily join with the forces of McClellan, then at Alexandria. 
Almost any other soldier would have been satisfied with what had 
already been accomplished — the destruction of the immense stores 
of the enemy, the forcing of Pope from the Rappahannock to 
Bull Run, and the demoralization produced in the Federal army — 
but General Jackson knew that the Confederate design demanded 
that a battle with Pope should be made before reinforcements 
were received from McClellan, and so he determined with his lit- 
tle army to attack the Federal forces and compel them to stop 
and give battle. Our army lay concealed by the railroad cut, the 
woods and the configuration of the ground, near the same field 
that we had fought the first battle of Manassas. The different 
columns of the enemy were moving in such a confused w y that it 
was difficult to tell what they intended. General Jackson, who 
had been up the whole of the previous night directing the move- 
ments of his troops, was asleep in a fence-corner, w en mounted 
scouts came in to inform us that a large body of Pope's army was 
moving past on the Warrenton road and in the direction of Cen- 
treville. As soon as he was waked and informed of the state of 
afiairs. General Jackson sprang up and moved rapidly towards his 
horse, buckling on his sword as he moved and urging the greatest 
speed on all around him, directing Ewell and Taliaferro to attack 
the enemy, which proved to be King's division. With about 
20,000 men he attacked Pope's army of 77,000 soldiers, so deter- 
mined was he that Pope should not escape to Centreville, there to 
intrench and wait for the reinforcements of McClellan, then on 
their way to him. The attack that evening brought on the bloody 
battle of Groveton. 

I must recur to the battle of Sharpsburg, as that was one of 
the sternest trials to which Jackson was ever subjected. Eighty 
thousand Federal soldiers under McClellan attacked 35,000 Con- 
federates uniler Lee, making the contest a most unequal one. It 
was a pitched battle in an open field. There were no fortifications 
or entrenchments, and the ground, as far aa sites for artillery went, 
was decidedly more favorable for the Federals. To defend the left 
wing of the Confederate line, Jackson had, including D. H. Hill's 
three brigades, less than 8,000 men. In front cJ^ him was Hooker 



Stonewall Jackson. 13 

with 15,000, Mansfield with 10,000, and Sumner with Sedgwick's 
division, 6,000—8,000 Confederates to 31,000 veteran Federal sol- 
diers. Hooker, at daylight, attacked and was routed. Then 
Mansfield came over the same ground and met the same fate. 
Then Sumner came up and was thrashed. Eight thousand half- 
starved, shoeless, ragged Confederates had routed 31,000 of Mc- 
Clellan's best soldiers, and in a plain open field without an 
entrenchment. But the 8,000 Confederates were veterans and 
were commanded by Stonewall Jackson. That night 20,000 dead 
and wounded men lay on the field of Sharpsburg. 

About one o'clock that day I rode forward to see the General. 
I found him a little to the left of the Dunkard church. I remem- 
ber that I had my saddle-pockets filled with peaches to take to 
him — knowing how much he enjoyed fruit — and was eating a 
peach when I approached him. The first thing he asked me was, 
if I had any more. I told him yes, that I had brought him some. 
After he got them he began to eat them ravenously, so much so, 
that he apologized and told me he had had nothing to eat that 
day. I told- him why I had come. That our lines were so thin 
and the enemy so strong that I was afraid that at some point our 
line might be broken, and, in the rush, the hospital captured. 
He was perfectly cool and quiet, although he had withstood three 
separate attacks of vastly superior numbers. He thought the 
enemy had done their worst and made me the reply I have already 
quoted, but he agreed that I should establish the hospital in 
Shepherdstown. Before returning to my post I rode forward with 
him to see the old Stonewall Division. They had been reduced 
to a very small body of men and were commanded by Colonel 
Grigsby. In some places lieutenants commanded brigades; ser- 
geants, regiments. Nearly all of his generals had fallen, but he 
had two left who were hosts in themselves — the unconquerable 
D. H. Hill and that grand old soldier, Jubal Early. While talk- 
ing to Grigsby I saw, off at a distance in a field, men lying down, 
and supposed it was a line of battle. I asked Colonel Grigsby 
why he did not move that line of battle to make it conform to his 
own, when he said " Those men you see lying over there, which 
you suppose to be a line of battle, are all dead men. They are 
Georgia soldiers." It was a stern struggle, but Jackson always 
expected to hold his lines. I heard him once say " We sometimes 
fail to drive the enemy from his position. He always fails to 



14 Stonewall Jackson. 

drive us." But he was never content with the defensive, however 
successful or however exhausting. In this most destructive battle 
he was looking all of that day for a chance to raake the counter- 
stroke. He urged General McLaws, who had been sent to his 
assistance, to move forward and attack the enemy's right flank, 
but General McLaws was so hotly engaged with those directly in 
front that he never had an opportunity to do what General 
Jackson desired. Other efforts, with the same intent, marked his 
conduct during all that day. 

His tactics were almost always offensive, and by his marvelous 
strategy and skill, by his consummate daring and absolute con- 
fidence in himself and his men, he made up for his deficiency in 
numbers. When circumstances obliged him to act upon the de- 
fensive, always at such times he kept in view the counter-stroke. 
He did not wish to fight at Fredericksburg. His objection was, 
that there was no room for this return blow in the day-time, with 
the enemy's guns on Stafford Heights. 

I cannot refrain from speaking of the statement, recently made, 
that General Jackson advised General Lee on the night of the 
17th September to cross the Potomac back into Virginia. I think 
it is a mistake. He told me at one o'clock that McClellan had 
done his worst. He was looking all the afternoon for a chance to 
strike the enemy, but he never had sufficient force to do it. He 
agreed with General Lee entirely during the whole of this cam- 
paign, and especially during this battle. General Lee writes, in a 
letter which I have recently read : " When he (Jackson) came 
upon the field, having preceded his troops, and learned my reasons 
for offering battle, he emphatically agreed with me. When I 
determined to withdraw and cross the Potomac, he also agreed 
and said, in view of all the circumstances, it was better to have 
fought the battle in Maryland than to have left it without a 
struggle." I say it with all possible deference to a distinguished 
soldier and most respected gentleman, but there is every indica- 
tion that General Stephen D. Lee's recollection as to Jackson's 
having proposed to cross the river on the night of the 17th is at 
fault. He says, at the interview he reports, that Longstreet came 
first and made his report. Longstreet says in his book that he 
was the last to come. General Lee's letter, above referred to, 
shows the entire concurrence between himself and General Jack- 
son with respect to their movements both before and after the 



Stonewall Jackson. 15 

battle. That General Jackson should have advised Lee, w^ithout 
being asked, to cross the river the night of the 17th is entirely at 
variance with his character. It was a liberty he certainly never 
would have permitted one of his subordinates to take with him. 

As for his care for the lives of his men, the great military 
critics, whose opinions I have quoted, told me that in this espe- 
cially appeared the superiority of the Valley campaign to the 
Italian campaigns of Napoleon. While the strategetical combi- 
nations were equally rapid and effective, the successes were at- 
tained with a proportion of loss to numbers engaged compara- 
tively small. In the whole Valley campaign his losses did not 
exceed 2,500 men. His care was not only for numbers but for 
individuals. It was my habit to tell him after a battle the v/hole 
sad story of the losses as they came under my observation. He 
always waited for this detailed report, and when I was delayed he 
would order that he should be waked up when I came in. Pres- 
ently I shall have occasion to show you how from time to time he 
received such news. His commissaries and quartermasters know 
how minutely he looked into all the details of their departments. 
To give only one illustration of his care of his soldiers : I remem- 
ber in our march to the rear of Pope's army, which we made 
without any supply train, he called for two of his officers, and 
sent them with a squad of cavalry ahead of his army to tell the 
people he was coming and to ask them to send some provisions to 
his men. The people responded nobly to this appeal and brought 
liberal supplies of flour and meat and other things to. the troops, 
and Jackson recognized the fact that these officers and the people 
had done good service that day. 

Had he the personal magnetism that characterizes a great com- 
mander? Did he arouse the enthusiasm of his men? What army 
ever had more unbounded confidence in its general than did the 
army of Jackson — and what general ever trusted and depended 
on his army more than Jackson ? Jackson knew the value of the 
Southern volunteer better and sooner (as I believe) than any other 
of our great leaders. When General Johnston took charge at 
Harper's Ferry, the general staff went with the command. One 
day when the Second Virginia regiment, composed of men from 
my county, marched by, I said to him, " If these men of the 
Second Virginia will not fight, you have no troops that will." He 
expressed the prevalent but afterward changed opinion of that 



16 Stonewall Jackson. 

early day in his reply, saying, " I would not give one company of 
regulars for the whole regiment." When I returned to General 
Jackson's Staff I had occasion to quote to him General Johnston's 
opinion. " Did he say that?" he asked, "and of those splendid 
men?" And then he added, " The patriot volunteer, fighting for 
cotmtry and his rights, makes the most reliable soldier on earth." 
Was the confidence returned ? When, at sight of him, the battle- 
shout of fighting thousands shook the far heavens, who could 
doubt its meaning? Did his men love him? What need of proof 
or illustration? Do we not feel it to-day in every throb of our 
hearts, though the long years have rolled away, though three and 
one-half decades have done their sad work of efFacement? 

I would like to show you Jackson as a man, for I think that 
only those who were near him knew him ; and to them the pic- 
ture of him as a man with the heart of a man is nobler — his 
memory as a true Christian gentleman is dearer — and he himself 
is greater — than even he seemed as a soldier. Under the grave 
and generally serious manner, sometimes almost stern, there were 
strong human passions dominated by his iron will — there was 
intense earthly ambition. The first time I was under fire, the 
attempt to diagnose my feelings did not discover anything that I 
recognized as positive enjoyment. I was not clearly and unmis- 
takably conscious of that feeling until after I got out of it. I 
told. General Jackson frankly what my feelings were, and asked 
him how he felt the first time he experienced it. Just a glimpse 
of his inner nature flashed forth in a most unusual expres.'=ion. 
" Afraid the fire would not be hot enough for me to distinguish 
myself" he promptly replied. 

There was in this great soldier a deep love for all that is true, 
for the beautiful, for the poetry of life, and a wealth of rich and 
quick imagination for which few would give him credit. Ambi- 
tion ! Yes, far beyond what ordinary men possess. And yet, he 
told me, when talking in my tent one dreary winter night near 
Charlestown, that he would not exchange one moment of his life 
hereafter for all the earthly glory he could win. I would not tell 
these things except that it is good for you and your children that 
you should know what manner of man Stonewall Jackson was. 

His view of war and its necessities was of the sternest. " War 
means fighting; to fight is the duty of a soldier; march swiftly, 
strike the foe with all your strength and take away from him 



Stonewall Jackson. 17 

everything you can. Injure him in every possible way, and do it 
quickly." He talked to me several times about the "black flag," 
and wondered if in the end it would not result in less suffering 
and loss of life ; but he never advocated it. 

A sad incident of the battle of Fredericksburg stirred him very 
deeply. As we stood that night at our camp waiting for some one 
to take our horses, he looked up at the sky for a moment and said, 
" How horrible is war." I replied " Yes, horrible, but what can 
we do ? These people at the North, without any warrant of law, 
have invaded our country, stolen our property, insulted our de- 
fenceless women, hung and imprisoned our helpless old men, be- 
haved in many cases like an organized band of cut-throats and 
robbers. What can we do?" "Do," he answered, and his voice 
was ringing, " Do ; why shoot them." At Port Republic, an 
oflScer commanding a regiment of Federal soldiers and riding a 
snow-white horse was very conspicuous for his gallantry. He 
frequently exposed himself to the fire of our men in the most 
reckless way. So splendid was this man's courage that General 
Ewell, one of the most chivalrous gentlemen I ever knew, at some 
risk to his own life, rode down our line and called to his men not 
to shoot the man on the white horse. After a little while, how- 
ever, the oflicer and his white horse went down. A day or so 
after, when General Jackson learned of the incident, he sent for 
General Ewell and told him not to do such a thing again ; that 
this was no ordinary war, and the brave and gallant Federal offi- 
cers were the very kind that must be killed. 

His temper, though capable of being stirred to profoundest 
depths, was singularly even. When most provoked he showed no 
great excitement. When the Secretary of War treated him so 
discourteously that Jackson resigned his commission, he showed 
no great resentment or indignation. He was the only man in the 
army who was not mad and excited. Two days after Malvern 
Hill, when his Staff did not get up in the morning as soon as he 
had ordered them to do, he quietly ordered his servant, Jim, to 
pour the coffee into the road and to put the mess-chest back into the 
wagon and send the wagon off with the train, and Jim did it ; but 
he showed no temper, and several days after, when I described 
the ludicrous indignation of one of his Staff at missing his break- 
fast that day, he laughed heartily over the incident, for he often 
showed a keen sense of humor ; and when he laughed (as I often 



18 Stonewall Jackson. 

saw liim do) he did it with his whole heart. He would catch one 
knee with both hands, lift it up, throw his body back, open wide 
his mouth, and his whole face and forna be convulsed with mirth — 
but there was no sound. 

His consideration for his men was very great, and he often vis- 
ited the hospital with me and spoke some words of encouragement 
to his soldiers. The day after the fight at Kernstown, as we were 
preparing to move further up the Valley, as the enemy was threat- 
ening to attack us, I said to him, " I have not been able to move 
all our wounded." And he replied, " Very well, I will stay here 
until you do move them." I have seen him stop while his army 
was on the march to help a poor simple woman find her son, when 
she only knew that this son was in " Jackson's company." He 
first found out the name of her county, then the companies from 
that county, and by sending couriers to each company he at last 
found the boy and brought him to his mother. And never can I 
forget his kindness and gentleness to me when I was in great sor- 
row and trouble. He came to my tent and spent hours with me, 
comforting me in his simple, kindly Christian way, showing a 
depth of friendship and affection which can never be forgotten. 
There is no measuring the intensity with which the very soul of 
Jackson burned in battle. Out of it he was very gentle. Indeed, 
as I look back on the two years that I was daily, indeed hourly, 
with him, his gentleness as a man, his great kindness, his tender- 
ness to those in trouble or afSiction — the tenderness indeed of a 
woman — impress me more than his wonderful prowess as a great 
warrior. 

A short time before the battle of the second Manassas, there 
came from this town to join the Liberty Hall Volunteers a fine 
lad, whose parents, living here, were dear friends of General Jack- 
son. The General asked him to stay at his headquarters for a few 
days before joining his company, and he slept and messed with 
us. We all became much attached to the young fellow, and Jack- 
son, in his gentle, winning way, did his best to make him feel at 
home and at his ease, the lad's manners were so gentle, kindly 
and diffident, and his beardless blue-eyed boyish face so manly 
and so handsome. Just before the battle he reported for duty 
with his company. The night of the day of the great battle I 
was telling the General of the wounded as wa stood over a fire 
where black Jim, his servant, was making some cofi'ee. I men- 



Stonewall Jackson. 19 

tioned many of the wounded and their condition, and presently, 
calling by name the lad we all loved, told him that he was mor- 
tally wounded. Jim — faithful, brave, big-hearted Jim, God bless 
his memory ! — rolled on the ground, groaning in his agony of 
grief; but the General's face was a study. The muscles were 
twitching convulsively and his eyes were all aglow. He gripped 
me by the shoulder till it hurt me, and in a savage, threatening 
manner, asked why I left the boy. In a few seconds he recovered 
himself and turned and walked off into the woods alone. He 
soon came back, however, and I continued my report of the 
wounded and the dead. We were still sitting by the fire drinking 
the coffee out of our tin cups when I said, " We have won this 
battle by the hardest kind of fighting." And he answered me 
very gently and softly, " No, no ; we have won it by the blessing 
of Almighty God." 

When General Gregg, of South Carolina, was wounded at Fred- 
ericksburg, an interesting incident occurred. General Jackson 
had had some misunderstanding with Gregg, the nature of which 
I do not now recall. The night after this gallant gentleman and 
splendid soldier was mortally wounded I told General Jackson, as 
I generally did of friends or prominent men killed and wounded. 
General Gregg was one of the most courteous and gallant gentle- 
men that I had ever known. He exposed himself that day in a 
way that seemed unnecessary, so much so, indeed, that Colonel 
Pendleton of Jackson's Staff rode up to him, and, knowing he 
was quite deaf, shouted to him that the Yankees were shooting at 
him. " Yes, sir ; thank you," he replied, " they have been doing 
so all day." When I told General Jackson that Gregg was badly 
injured, he said, " I wish you would go back and see him ; I want 
you to see him." I demurred a little, saying it had not been very 
long since I had seen him and that there was nothing more to be 
done for him. He said, " I wish you to go back and see him and 
tell him I sent you." So I rode back to the Yerby House, saw 
General Gregg and gave him the message. When I left his bed- 
side and had gotten into the hall of the house I met General Jack- 
son, who must have ridden close behind me to have arrived there 
so soon. He stopped me, asked about General Gregg and went 
into the room to see him. No one else was in the room, and what 
passed between the two officers will never be known. I waited 
for him and rode back to camp with him. Not a word was spoken 



20 Stonewall Jackson. 

on that ride by either of us. After we reached the camp occurred 
the brief conversation I have quoted as to the horrors of war. 

A very remarkable illustration of Jackson's religious liberality 
was shown just before the battle of Chancellorsville. We had 
been ordered to send to the rear all surplus baggage, and — to 
illustrate how rigidly this was done — only one tent, and that a 
small one, was allowed for the headquarters of the corps. It was 
intended to make the campaign of 1863 a very active one. " We 
must make this campaign," said Jackson, "an exceedingly active 
one. Only thus can a weaker country cope with a stronger. It 
must make up in activity what it lacks in strength, and a defen- 
sive campaign can only be made successful by taking the aggres- 
sive at the proper time. Don't wait for the adversary to become 
fully prepared, but strike him the first blow." When all the 
tents among other surplus baggage were taken away, a Roman 
Catholic priest of one of the Louisiana regiments sent in his 
resignation because he could not perform the duties of his office 
without the privacy of a tent. Jackson asked me about Father 

. I told him he was one of the most useful men in time 

of battle that we had ; that I would miss his services very much. 
He ordered that this Roman Catholic priest should retain his tent, 
and he was the only man in the corps who had that privilege. 

We now approach the close of Jackson's career. Wonderful 
career ! Wonderful in many respects, and to some minds more 
wonderful in that it took him only two years to make his place in 
history. Caesar spent eight years in his first series of victories, 
and some two years more in filling out the measure of his great 
reputation. Napoleon, teaching the lesson of indifference to dan- 
ger to the boys he gathered around him after the fatal Russian 
campaign, said " The cannon balls have been flying around our 
legs for twenty years." Hannibal's career occupied about fifteen 
years. No other great commander in the world's history has in 
so short a time won so great a fame as Jackson. Two years 
crowded with weighty deeds now draw to a close, and Chancellors- 
ville witnesses, perhaps, the most important single incident of his 
life as a soldier. The whole story has been too often told. Hooker, 
in command of what was called by the North " the finest army on 
the planet," crossed the Rappahannock and marched to Chancel- 
lorsville. He had 123,000 soldiers; Lee less. than 58,000. Not- 
withstanding, Hooker was frightened at his own temerity in 



"-"ONBWALL Jackson. 21 



coming within striking distance of Lee and Jackson, and he at 
once set his whole army to work to throw up intrenchments and 
make abattis of the most formidable character. Lee and Jackson 
had to meet the present difficulty without the aid of a large portion 
of their army, absent with Longstreet. Lee and Jackson ! How 
well I remember their meeting before this battle and their confid- 
ing conference ! How these two men loved and trusted each other ! 
Where in all history shall we find a parallel to their mutual faith 
and love and confidence? I can find none. Said Jackson, " Lee is 
a phenomenon. I would follow him blindfold." And Lee said to 
an aide-de-camp of Jackson's, who reported that Hooker had 
crossed the river, " Go back and tell General Jackson that he knows 
as well as I what to do." After they arrived in front of Hooker our 
movements a e described in a hitherto unpublished letter of Gene- 
ral Lee's. That great commander, after saying that he decided 
not to attack in front, writes &» follows : " I stated to General 
Jackson, we must attack on our left as soon as practicable," and 
he adds, " In consequence of a report from General Fitz Lee, de- 
scribing the position of the Federal army, and the roads which he 
held with his cavalry leading to its rear. General Jackson — after 
some inquiry concerning the roads leading to the Furnace — un- 
dertook to throw his command entirely in Hooker's rear, which 
he accomplished with equal skill and boldness." General Jackson 
believed the fighting qualities of the Army of Northern Virginia 
equal to the task of ending the war. During the winter preceding 
Chancellorsville, in the course of a conversation at Moss Neck, he 
said : " We must do more than defeat their armies ; we must de- 
stroy them." He went into this campaign filled with this stern 
purpose ; ready to stretch to the utmost every energy of his ge- 
nius and push to its limit all his faith in his men in order to de- 
stroy a great army of the enemy. I know that this was his pur- 
pose, for after the battle, when still well enough to talk, he told 
me that he had intended, after breaking into Hooker's rear, to 
take and fortify a suitable position, cutting him off from the river 
and so hold him, until, between himself and General Lee, the 
great Federal host should be broken to pieces. He had no fear. 
It was then that I heard him say, "We sometimes fail to drive 
them from position; they always fail to drive us." 

Never can I forget the eagerness and intensity of Jackson on 
that march to Hooker's rear. His face was pale, his eyes flashing. 



22 Stonewall Jackson. 



Out from his thin compressed lips came the terse command "Press 
forward, press forward." In his eagerness, as he rode, he leaned 
over on the neck of his horse as if in that way the march might 
be hurried. " See that the column is kept closed and that there 
is no straggling" he more than once ordered— and "Press on, 
press on " was repeated again and again. Every man in the ranks 
knew that we were engaged in some great flank movement, and 
they eagerly responded and pressed on at a rapid gait. Fitz Lee 
met us and told Jackson that he could show him the whole of 
Hooker's army if he went with him to the top of a hill near by. 
They went together, and Jackson carefully inspected through his 
glasses the Federal command. He was so wrapped up in his plans 
that on his return he passed Fitz Lee without saluting or thank- 
ing him, and when he reached the column he ordered one aide to 
go forward and tell General Rodes, who was in the lead, to cross 
the plank road and go straight on to the turnpike, and another 
aide to go to the rear of the column and see that it was kept 
closed up, and all along the line he repeatedly said " Press on, 
press right on." The fiercest energy possessed the man and the 
fire of battle fell strong upon him. When he arrived at the plank 
road he sent this, his last message, to Lee : "The enemy has made 
a stand at Chancellorsville. I hope as soon as practicable to at- 
tack. I trust that an ever kind Providence will bless us with 
success." And as this message went to Lee, there was flashing 
along the wires — giving brief joy to the Federal Capital — Hook- 
er's message : " The enemy must either ingloriously fly, or come 
out from behind his defences and give us battle on our own 
ground, when certain destruction awaits him." 

Contrast the two. Jackson's —modest, confident, hopeful — rely- 
ing on his cause and his God. Hooker's — frightened, boastful, 
arrogant, vainglorious. The two messages are characteristic of 
the two men, and of the two people. 

But this battle has been so often described in its minutest de- 
tail that I forbear to tax your patience. I forbear for another 
reason. While I can write about it, I cannot speak of it to old 
soldiers without more emotion than I care to show. The result of 
that great battle the great world knows. Except for the unsur- 
passed — the wonderful campaign of 1864 — this is perhaps the 
finest illustration of General Lee's genius for ^|'ar, and yet, in 
writing to Jackson he says: "I have just received your note, 



Stonewall Jackson. 23 



informing me that you were wounded. I cannot express my 
regret at its occurrence. Could I have directed events, I would 
have chosen, for the good of the country, to have been disabled 
in your stead I congratulate you on the victory, which is due to 
your skill and energy." 

See the noble spirit of our great commander ! Not further 
removed is pole from pole than is any mean jealousy or thought of 
self in his great soul. He at heart obeyed the hard command 
that " In honor ye prefer one another." This note displays his 
greatness, yet it is also history, in that we know on his testimony 
that Jackson shared with him the glory of that battle. These 
great soldiers loved and trusted one another, and in death they 
are not divided. How sacred is the soil of Lexington ! for here 
they rest side by side. 

The story of Jackson's death is so familiar to you all, that, 
though intimately associated with its scenes, I will not narrate it. 
I will only declare that he met this great enemy as he had met all 
others, calmly and steadily, expecting as always to conquer, but 
now trusting, not in his own strength— not as heretofore in the 
prowess of mortal arms, nor in the splendid fibre of mortal cour- 
age, but in the unseen strength upon which he had always re- 
lied — the strength that never failed him — and so, foreseeing the 
rest that awaited him on the other side, he crossed over the river. 
" My hand is on my mouth, and my mouth is in the dust." 

Already I have told you much that you already knew. In this 
I beg you to observe I have but fulfilled my promise. My apology 
is that we are in Lexington, and that we stand by the grave of 
Jackson. Under such circumstances love does not seek new stories 
to tell, new incidents to relate. Just to its own heart or to some 
sympathizing ear, it goes over the old scenes, recalls the old memo- 
ries, tenderly dwells upon and tells them over and over again. Says 
farewell, and comes back again and stands silent in the presence 
of the dead, and so I finish what I had to say and bid farewell to 
Stonewall Jackson. And yet, all is not said, for here in Lexing- 
ton, even in the presence of his mighty shade, our hearts bow 
down and we are awed by another presence, for the towering 
form beside him is that of Robert Lee. Thought and feeling and 
power of expression are paralyzed. I cannot help you now with 
words, to tell all that is in your hearts. 

Time fails, and I trust to your memories to recall a group more 



24 Stonewall Jackson. 

familiar, in whose presence perhaps we would not be so oppressed, 
and yet a list of names that ought to be dear to Lexington. I 
think that in the wide, wide world, no town of equal size has had 
so long a list of glorious dead — so many around whose memories 
a halo of glory gathers. Reverently I salute them all. 

And so I leave the grave of my General and my friend, know- 
ing that for centuries men will come to Lexington as a Mecca, 
and to this grave as a shrine, and wonderingly talk of this man 
and his mighty deeds. I know that time will only add to his 
great fame. I know that his name will be honored and revered 
forever, just as I know that the beautiful river, flowing near by, 
will sing an unceasing requiem to his memory — just as I know 
that the proud mountains, like some vast chain of sentinels, will 
keep eternal watch over his honored grave. 



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